Roselea

Author: Stephen

  • Solar data from Nasa

    I’ve been using satelite data from Nasa to estimate the output of our solar panels. This website gives you more data than you can possibly use ! For my purposes the ‘data tables for a particular location’ (under Meterology and Solar Energy) are what I wanted. In particular the table of Average monthly insolation on tilted panel.

    For our location (51.7N-1.7E) this gives this table:-

    Monthly Averaged Radiation Incident On An Equator-Pointed Tilted Surface (kWh/m2/day)
    Lat 51.583
    Lon 1.71    		 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
    Average
    SSE HRZ 0.82 1.46 2.45 3.72 4.71 4.97 4.98 4.34 2.93 1.79 0.99 0.62 2.82
    K 0.35 0.37 0.39 0.42 0.44 0.43 0.45 0.46 0.41 0.38 0.36 0.32 0.40
    Diffuse 0.55 0.87 1.47 2.10 2.56 2.76 2.65 2.26 1.60 1.00 0.63 0.43 1.58
    Direct 1.22 1.88 2.33 3.13 3.78 3.78 4.03 3.85 2.89 2.25 1.43 0.93 2.63
    Tilt 0 0.80 1.44 2.42 3.70 4.73 4.99 5.00 4.31 2.88 1.75 0.95 0.62 2.81
    Tilt 36 1.29 2.07 2.94 4.00 4.67 4.75 4.84 4.54 3.40 2.42 1.49 1.02 3.13
    Tilt 51 1.39 2.17 2.93 3.83 4.30 4.31 4.42 4.29 3.36 2.51 1.60 1.11 3.02
    Tilt 66 1.43 2.17 2.79 3.49 3.78 3.79 3.90 3.85 3.16 2.48 1.63 1.14 2.80
    Tilt 90 1.33 1.93 2.32 2.69 2.79 2.70 2.80 2.88 2.55 2.17 1.49 1.07 2.23
    OPT 1.43 2.18 2.95 4.02 4.85 5.05 5.09 4.59 3.41 2.52 1.63 1.14 3.24
    OPT ANG 65.0 57.0 43.0 29.0 16.0 11.0 13.0 25.0 39.0 54.0 63.0 67.0 40.0

  • Solar Survey

    Performed a solar survey today. This is a check on the site of your solar panels to see what may obscure the sun at different times of the year.

    To do this I produced a 300mm circle divided in 10° segments and put this on top of a tall stepladder so than when I stood on it my eyes were a similar level to the final panels. The stepladder was orientated to North-South Line (Used Google Earth to find a sight line). Then I used a inclinometer (in my case a electronic spirit level) to map the angle of the top of each item from horizontal around the circle and note them down. I then took a series of photos to get a panorama at the same level.

    Stitching the photos together gave me this …

    The panorma around Roselea.
    The panorma around Roselea.

     

    I then traced a line along the top of the obstacles (Faint Red line above).  I Then got a SunChart from the University of Oregon (Lat.-Long. from Multimap/Google Earth). Then took the horizon line from picture and scaled it onto the Sunchart to get this :-

    Sun Heights above Horizon for the Year
    Sun Heights above Horizon for the Year

     

    For more info see the Solar page.

  • Cedar Shingles – importing direct.

    I’m looking at ways to save money on the materials for the build (isn’t everybody). I have found a Canadian firm who ship shingles to England. For the over 400m2 of roof on this build we will save over £1000 including delivery.

    Now I’m looking at the possibility of getting more materials from Canada/US.

  • Planning permission – second try …

    Here we go again. New application for full planning  permission has been submitted.

    The only changes to the design are to the roof and the rooms inside and out.

    Plans

    Its on the councils website as 06/09/690/F

  • Temporary building Phase 1 complete

    We have completed Phase 1 of the Temporary building. Its Waterproof (?), Insulated and has lights in the Store Room.
    Pictures

  • Neighbours annoyed

    Two of our neighbours seem annoyed with the council for not passing the first plans. One of them has started to bring round examples of timber clad building he finds in the local paper! What a lovely neighbour…

  • Planning meeting – OK

    The planning officer (Mrs Pieterman) seems a pleasent lady. She looked at the new designs and was very favourable. It seems like we may have done enough to satisfy them! Now we need to draw up the full plans. Mrs Pieterman suggested that we show her the new plans before submitting them — Good Idea.

  • Updated design ideas

    From what we can work out the conservation officer wants us to do the following.

    • Change all gables to hips — This we can live with! In some ways this looks better, esp. at the ends.
    • Replace the both porches with extended main roof sections — Makes a more complicated roof but thats ok.
    • Change the size and move about the rear extensions to get a symetrical design — This seems pointless as nobody can see the rear of the building except us! So we havent done this at all.
    • Reduce the ridge height to 5.5m — We have reduced the main roof slope and removed 300mm from the downstairs celing height giving at new ridge of 6m – hope thats enough.

    We have also added windows to the TV Room and Utility (This will be a false window or decorative feature in reality) to help with the balance of the front wall. The other thing is extending the roof overhang by 200mm which helps to give a more normal ratio between  walls and roof appearance.

    We will take these ideas to the planners tomorrow.

  • Visit to the Council.

    After looking at the planning file, I’m a bit happier.

    There was a 2 page report from the planning officer and another from the conservation officer. Only one letter from a neighbor who worried about the size of the new house.

    The planner has stated that there is no objection too the principle of a replacement dwelling but just some problems with the scale, design and proportions.

    • Scale – doesnt reflect other dwellings in immediate area. Visually dominant.
    • Design – appears rather ‘blockish’
    • Proportions – Awkward appearance of gables-windows-porch and conservatory. 

    The conservation officer wrote that he thought it was too tall as well as not very proportional. Helpfully he included some sketches of design changes. Now we just have to interpret these and decide if we can live with some/all of them.

    Made an appointment with the planning officer on Thursday.

  • Shauns finger is healing.

    It’s been a few days since I nailed Shaun’s finger and its healing nicely. Shaun says it doesn’t hurt any more…
    There is no infection at all! But we have decided we all get Tetanus Jabs as a precaution, as I doubt that this is the last accident on site.